With your newly found minions at your disposal, and the teleportation array successfully made, you decide to send one of the golems through for a period of three years to investigate this foreign planet before returning so you can see what it managed to discover in that time. Choosing one of the two golems at random, you send it to the surface and to the edge of the array before funneling the needed mana into the array causing the portion of your surface covered by it to begin to crackle with a purple electricity that swiftly surges towards the center to form an oval shape big enough for ten of the golems to walk through abreast. Shortly after the oval takes shape the space in the center of it begins to visibly distort and ripple before beginning to shatter like glass, each piece of space that falls away giving way to a dull brown landscape that quickly forms into a barren wasteland as the portal stabilizes.
You can feel an intense heat pouring from the portal along with a heavy wind, and piles of dust carried upon that wind. You're confused momentarily by the difference between this landscape and what the dead sage had shown in that book, but quickly brush the question of it aside as the golem's search will likely bring the answer to that question after its expedition. Giving the order to search the world beyond the portal for three years before returning to where the portal leads, you send the golem through and quickly halt the array causing the gate to collapse in moments.
---
During the three years you have to wait you set about creating more of the stone golems you had discovered, and after dedicating almost half of your Mana to their creation you find thirty-six new golems awaiting your orders. You briefly contemplate ordering them to create mana arrays, but quickly dismiss the idea as the golems aren't capable of the precision required to create the arrays. Afterwards you think of improving the golems combat abilities, but are unsure how to proceed as there are numerous possibilities for that from the creation of weapons to attempting to improve the golems bodies to enhancing the arrays that give them life.
You spend the rest of the three years working on increasing your understanding of the mana gathering arrays as well as attempting to somehow make make them in a smaller form. While you do make some headway in potentially making the arrays smaller you are hampered by your slow progress on understanding what the individual symbols of the array mean, and thus over the course of three years you make very little progress at all.
---
Finally it comes time for the golem's return, and you activate the array once more causing the same scene you had witnessed the first time though this time instead of an empty wasteland what awaits you is the sight of an armless golem standing in the middle of the dusty plains. The construct stumbles through the portal, and you hastily close it behind him to keep whatever may have done this off your surface for the time being. Curious as to what the golem had discovered you interface with it and watch its three years of exploration as if you were the golem.
After the portal closed the golem had spent weeks traveling through an empty wasteland with the heat of the world beating down on it until at last it could see a massive crystal dome that seemed to cover a vast section of the land equivalent to your own surface. As it continued towards this dome their would periodically be strange cylindrical pieces of metal with rounded tops fly straight up into the sky while others would come hurtling down to the surface only to slow down at the last moment before entering the dome. Months passed by, but finally the golem had navigated its way to the dome only to be stopped by strange six legged creatures wielding strange metal sticks covered in symbols that vaguely remind you of the arrays you can construct. One of the creatures clashed its mandibles and pointed it's stick at the golem.
Shortly after it clashed its mandibles again which was swiftly followed by the metal stick releasing a flash after which the golem stumbled from the impact of something smashing into its shoulder which caused it to sense danger, and flee in order to return what it knew to you. What followed was a week of the golem being chased by these strange creatures and being shot repeatedly by the metal sticks which then reached its climax when the golem noticed a triangular metal construct tearing through the air. Before it could react the metal construct suddenly lit up and the bolem felt dozens of impacts as its arms were torn to shreds, and its torso severely damage leading it to collapse on the spot.
After this attack the golem could not move for what you estimate for a year until finally it mustered the last vestiges of its mana to stumble back to the portal, and deliver this to you. Once the memories end you watch the golem collapse on the spot followed by the dim light coming from its body to end completely, it had at last succumbed to the damage wrought to it, but only after delivering that which you had requested ...
Mana: 200/1500 (+101 Mana a year)
Planetary Body Info
Surface: (117 out of 360 Space used)
2x Mana Gathering Array Network [An interconnected system of smaller arrays consisting of ten in total that gather mana from the cosmos, and draw it into you.]
Mana Gathering Array [A mana gathering array. Draws a minuscule amount of mana.]
Sage's Teleportation Array [A vast array whose purpose is to move things from your surface to Argandia, inactive.]
Underground:
Small Tunnel System [It seems there is a series of tunnels, and chambers spread out underneath that strange array that for the most part seem bear though some of them seem to still contain items inside of them. Several of these chambers have some form of barrier around them that prevents you from seeing inside. Sealed off from the surface.]
Crystal Core [The very heart of your planetary body is made of a mass of mana-infused crystal in such a great amount that the Mana it contains outclasses what you can hold by a hundred fold.]
Mana Crystal Relays [Several crystal relays stretch into the heart of your body allowing you access to the crystal core contained within.]
Isolated Chamber [A chamber that is on the opposite side of your body from the tunnel system under your mana gathering array. You are unable to see inside, but you can clearly sense an entity within it that holds a power greater than your current capabilities. The entire chamber is enveloped in a array far beyond the mana gathering array's complexity that seems to be sealing whatever is inside. This array seems almost primordial in nature.]
Mana-infused Crystals Lodes [All deposits completely emptied from experiments, creation of internal crystal relay spires, and a frantic absorption of mana when you nearly died from mana deprivation.]
Iron Ore Deposit [There is one massive deposit of iron ore buried deep within your planetary body, even though its a fairly mundane material perhaps it could be of some use to you in the future.]
Mana Iron Deposits [There are dozens of tiny deposits of iron scattered throughout your body that have seemingly attracted mana during the time it took you to form though how it differs from normal iron you're completely unsure aside from it being far more durable]
Lead Deposits [There are roughly seven small deposits of lead which seem to disperse mana on contact.]
Spells/Inherent Powers
Earth Movement - You can manipulate the rock that makes up your body though the more you move the more mana you will exhaust.
Crystal Melding - You can somewhat capably meld the mana-infused crystals into semi-detailed shapes.
Mana Lash - Compressing mana into a line you launch it at your target causing physical damage from the high speed condensed mana. The more mana poured into the attack the stronger it will be.
Manasight - Using Mana to improve your perception you can now clearly observe things that might have otherwise be hidden away underground, or such. Currently the range of this sight seems to be restricted to your surface, and within your body.
Store/Retrieve Mana - Through intense study you have determined a method through which you can store mana inside of special materials, or formations that can hold mana. You have also devised a means by which to extract mana.
Known Magical Arrays
Lesser Mana Gathering Array [Costs 15 Mana to create one, takes up 4 Space, can be connected together in a network that causes the array to be more effective. Base Mana Income is 1. Five connected Arrays increases it to 10, and potentially at ten connected arrays it increases to 50. The current limit of connected arrays is ten for your level of knowledge] [Progress Towards Miniaturization: 6 out of 100; Progress towards understanding the symbols: 2 out of 100.]
Sage's Teleportation Array [Costs 1000 Mana to create, and 100 Mana to operate afterwards. Takes up 15 space. This array creates a gateway between your location and Argandia allowing you to freely move things between the two!]
Known Constructs
Crystal Spire Relay [Cost varies based on size, requires Mana-infused Crystal to make. These spires naturally create a mesh of mana around them allowing your perception to move even farther than before.]
Stone Golem [Costs 10 Mana to create a single golem. These golems can follow mildly complex instructions, are extremely durable, do not tire, and can run almost indefinitely off of the mana used to create them.]
On your Planetary Body:
Extremely Damaged Stone Golem [Requires 5 Mana to fix, was the Golem you sent to investigate Argandia.]
37 Stone Golems [Can follow mildly complex instructions, extremely durable, tireless. Unarmed.]
Author
Topic: You are a Magical Asteroid (Read 9490 times)